How to start a fire in the rain

[LongWayAround]

Again, if you want to argue about when to make a fire or not you guys can start a new thread instead of getting this one off topic.

You keep quoting me. I'm not arguing about anything.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

This was mentioned in an earlier post. On a guided hunting trip to BC years ago, my guide started a fire when it was pouring rain. The key was his starter. He had an empty pill rx container filled with cotton balls that were soaked in petroleum jelly (Vaseline). Started one with a propane cig lighter. Worked great. I always carry one now.

 

[ElDiablito]

Started one with a propane cig lighter. Worked great. I always carry one now.

Hmm. Never heard of one of those…..

 

[MacGyver]

BIC style lighters don't always work
Almost never work when it's really cold.

The problem I have with the Bic style lighters is, if my Thum get wet it will also get the flint wet and no spark to light the gas. I now use a cigar lighter that does not use flint.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

I rarely carry a stove anymore. From a survival standpoint I may need to reconsider this if I am hunting where rain is likely and the temp could drop unexpectedly. Being able to eat/drink something warm is good advice. Could also boil water to fill a bottle and throw it in the sleeping bag.

Keeping at least one or two mt house and a few hot drink mix’s in emergency kit may be a good idea to get that core up.
Eat one and stick one around your core.
Than get that fire going!

 

[journeyman713]

The problem I have with the Bic style lighters is, if my Thum get wet it will also get the flint wet and no spark to light the gas. I now use a cigar lighter that does not use flint.

So true on getting a Bic wet. One of the reasons to carry a spare, in a separate Ziplock.
I carry three of the mini versions total. The general use MSR stove/fires, one ziplocked with emergency kit, and another ziplocked spare with some paper in Binocular harness.

 

[Rich M]

They say drier lint and wax is good. Birthday or a 1-hr candle. Many ways to build this mouse trap.

That birch bark would have started the fire - it burns wet. Pick the little twigs that grow on the inside of the pine trees. Those are the best, just burn quick.

Dad used to have me and sister carry 1 match when camping and then start a fire at end of day. That taught us a lot about fires and how they work.

 

[Wilderness Will]

For a true backcountry hunt, I think you’re better off to carry a tarp to pitch a quick and low diamond fly and keep puffies in a dry sack. A guy can ride out a lot of weather with that if he breaks a leg.

Being as it’s about starting a fire, something I haven’t seen mentioned here is using your stove burner to burn stuff. I’ve been hypothermic once before, so much so that I started to not feel cold, and when that happens, your hands don’t really work that well and fumbling around with any kind of lighter is difficult and building your little kindling cabin would also difficult. That jet boil burner will burn for a good 10 minutes which will give you time to make a fire if it’s gonna happen.

For the backcountry people, carrying special fire starter is kinda rough on the scale. I’ll carry vasoline cotton balls which are cheap, easy, and light. The trick is finding standing dead timber; in some places that is hard to come by which brings me to my first point, but that is neither here nor there.


"Last evening the indians entertained us with seting the fir trees on fire. They have
a great number of dry lims near their bodies which when set on fire creates a very
suddon and immence blaze from bottom to top of those tall trees. They are a
beatifull object in this situation at night. This exhibition reminded me of a display
of fireworks. The natives told us that their object in seting those trees on fire was
to bring fair weather for our journey."
—Meriwether Lewis, 1806

 

[MountainTracker]

I make a bunch of these with my kids, they work really well. Pretty easy to do and you can make a bunch

I practice with my kids on how to get a fire started. We all carry ferro rods, lighters, and fire starters. Having a garbage bag is good bc as you breakdown small pieces of wood you can put it inside the bag to stay dry, instead of exposed to the elements.

I’d encourage everyone to practice the skill of fire starting and emergency shelter building. Practice during the off season.


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[cnelk]

I’d encourage everyone to practice the skill of fire starting and emergency shelter building. Practice during the off season.

Or when it’s raining - even better

 

[greyghostnw]

A cedar tree provides one of the best starters if available…Peel the bark in strips it’s usually always dry and easy to peel. If your in a region with cedar trees that is. Ive used it in some very wet conditions.

 

[MarlinMark]

You can make a good fire starter by mixing smokeless powder with clear nail polish in a container with a popsicle stick that doubles as the wick. We made them in film cannisters back when those were around everywhere. Slit the cannister lid and slide it over the stick and onto the cannister with your mix in there. They burned for a very long time.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

A cedar tree provides one of the best starters if available…Peel the bark in strips it’s usually always dry and easy to peel. If your in a region with cedar trees that is. Ive used it in some very wet conditions.

One reason a fixed blade is on my pack.
Sometimes i think about the weight but it’s just not replaceable.

 

[Wolfshead]

I don’t hunt out west as a lot of you do.
Here in the northeast, I hunt for the day. So I don’t have a tent or shelter that is with me.
I do carry things that can help me spend a night in the woods if I have to.
One of those things is one or two contractor trash bags.
They weigh next to nothing, cost is minimal, can be cut to open them up or made into a poncho type thing, etc….
Can also be held over oneself to help keep rain off a fire if trying to start one.
We have a lot of yellow birch here, and that is great fire starting stuff. I’ll often collect some at the beginning of the season, and carry that in my pack along with my starter kit, which includes a bic lighter wrapped in a wax covered candle wick held on with a piece of of bike tire. That burns easy and I can put it in the bark to get it started. And also a magnesium fire starter.
I’ll probably be making some of the recipes that some of you have posted to throw in my kit as well.

 

[MountainTracker]

One reason a fixed blade is on my pack.
Sometimes i think about the weight but it’s just not replaceable.

Yep having a knife that is big enough to baton on to process wood is priceless.

Wood can be split open to provide dry wood on the inside, making a base layer of this on the ground to start a fire greatly improves success.


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[sasquatch]

My short answer to your post is: trioxane tablets.

But here’s another thought.
If you are already inside your tent, get inside your sleeping bag with all of your wet clothes on, cook a hot meal, drink hot liquids, and go to bed.
The next morning you’ll be bone dry.
You’ll need to dry out your sleeping bag, as all the moisture from your clothes will have pushed out, but you’ll be fine.

Unless you’re in a hot tent, or under a tarp pitched very high, a fire wouldn’t be as useful drying you out as just letting your sleeping bag do it.

Ask me how I know,,,

Likely not if it’s a down bag, and def not if the down bag also got wet?


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[rcb2000]

Likely not if it’s a down bag, and def not if the down bag also got wet?


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Nope, I can attest that down will move moisture out, and condensation will form on the outside of your bag.

If you were planning multiple days of wet weather, a synthetic bag would be the way to go for sure though.

(This is from experience, I’ve done it with both)

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[idelkslayer]

I usually carry two lighters and a half-dozen commercial fire starter squares. The fire starters are small (2"x2"x1/2"). I should consider a better type than the Bic lighters but I've always been able to warm them up with body heat and get a flame.

In the more arid regions of central and southern Idaho I don't have much difficulty finding dry materials for a fire. In the wet soggy north it can be difficult to find dry material even under large firs and red cedars, especially in an active rain. Sometimes I've had to overturn rocks and logs to find anything dry enough. The fire starters burn long enough to get damp materials started and burning hot enough to add progressively large material.

My tip when building a fire in an active rain is to gather more dry tinder and kindling than you think you need. It is way better and less discouraging to start a fire on the first attempt than to repeatedly and unsuccessfully burn up small amounts of tinder by trying to short-cut the process.

Another helpful tip is to collect sap from the "blisters" on white fir bark. Poke a hole in the blister and push the sap out onto a stick or some old mans beard. You can gather enough sap to make an impromptu fire starter if you don't have anything else.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

BIC style lighters don't always work
Almost never work when it's really cold.

BS They have never failed me, even in the coldest of cold. Had a wise ass old fart challenge me when he threw it in a bucket of water. I had it going in 5 seconds.

 

[RockAndSage]

There's a lot of good starter setups here, but it's genuinely just a tiny part of the equation, albeit critical.

The thing is, building a fire is not the same thing as starting one.

I've never failed to start a fire, even using bow-and-drill setups or flint-and-steel with char cloth. But I've failed dozens of times over the decades at home, in training, and in the field to keep it going - and every damn time it's because I didn't take a little time to properly gather and prepare my fuels before starting it. You have to do that to get it going well and keep it going.

The more powerful your starter setup is the more BS you can get away with. Amongst other things, I carry a road-flare in wet or cold climates, along with several other starting methods. But a really good benchmark of your personal fire-making skill is if you can do it with 1 match and 1 square of toilet paper. Practicing to that standard will make you excel at properly gathering, sorting, and laying out your fuels first.

If you're doing a 1 match/1 square of TP standard, or trying to do this with something really primitive like a bow-drill, you just won't get that fire going without a really well-staged and stocked set of fuels in different diameters and lengths, starting with twigs the diameter of pine-needles. I can easily spend 10-20 minutes properly gathering and separating my fuels, from those tiny twigs up to thumb or wrist-size branches, in about 5-7 separate piles. Failing to have that selection collected, sorted, and laid out generally means the fire dies before you get warm. You'll find yourself blowing the flame to keep it from dying (especially in wet/cold situations), unable to go gather more fuels.

Fire-making is a skill. There's an analog with shooting - your personal "ethical shot" is what you can do in field conditions on a vitals-sized target 10 for 10 at a given distance, no misses. If you can't build a fully-fueled cooking-grade fire 10 out of 10 times, you just cannot expect to execute on that in an emergency.

It takes practice.